Picked up a pretty clean 1983 Cressida today. Had a bad alternator so I got a pretty good deal on it. The car has 180k miles and is pretty clean inside and out with only a few door dings. The car will be daily driven for the foreseeable future so the mods will come slowly for now. Plans include a W58 swap, new drivers seat, steering wheel with quick release, some 15x9 -15 wheels, intake, exhaust, LSD, circle track springs and some stiffer shocks. Once I get a different DD I will be turboing a 5m, I am planning on getting it to about 250-300 RWHP.

The wheels I am planning on getting

Feel free to throw out some ideas of other stuff I should do.

just personal opinion - stay away from those rotas. if you want to roll on fake old-school baller shit, get the hayashi street knockoffs. they're infinitely better looking and resellable.

cressida stuff is easy. start planning your swap for when the M gives up on you now. don't be tempted by the 5,M 6M or 7M route. you will spend more money and end up with less motor. 2jzge with a front sump will probably be the best all-around option. you might be out $300-500 up front. you will make that up over the lifetime of the car vs. a turbo 5M many, many times over.

usdm x6's are the ugliest and the hardest to make look decent. jameson's car is an example of doing it right, whether you're looking at it pre-sharknose or post.

if you have a digi cluster and the other super-80's options good for you. if not, definitely a worthwhile addition.

never looked into the possibility of swapping jdm body parts onto this chassis, dunno what fits but it would probably be mark ii stuff if anything. cruise yja.

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My nephew ran a turboed rebuilt 5M at 258rwp for over a year with out a problem and he is helping with my build so I am going to try that route, if it does not work then I am planning on going 1/2jz. As far as the wheels go I would love to get some real old JDM wheels, but finding something that is close to the right fitment and price is an issue as I am a broke ass college student with 2 kids. I need to find Jamesons car, see how he did things and how it looks. And yes I have the digi dash and all the other awesome 80's gear

just letting you know about the M stuff. you've been warned. better to do it right the first time than spend the money twice, know what i mean? i won't turn this into an engine v. engine debate, i've seen a lot of people go the M route and get burned.

rota makes those street knockoffs that would look bad ass on an x6. i've seen them on an x7 and they are perfect fit and look. those sakura knockoffs never quite looked *right* compared to the copies of other cool old school wheels. nothing wrong with dailying on knockoffs, i wish i had a set so i could keep my Tom's fresh.

if you're looking to ditch that huge plastic usdm bumper there are some other options out there that look nicer. hint, jameson's car, hint.

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Yeah I have read a bunch on the problems of the m engines but after watching him build and drive that turbo 5m supra I thank that built correctly and not pushed too hard the 5m will do what I want and not blow up too soon. As far as wheels go I have not made any decisions for sure but I would like something a little more aggressive than 15x9 +0 which is part of the reason that I am leaning towards those rotas over the hayashi knockoffs. Found some pics of jamesons car and I really like the bumpers, now I need to find a set and a new drivers tail light cover

Edit: Just found the Rota shakotans in -15! Super excited

I have been looking but I cant find out what truck the front bumper on Jameson's car is off....need to know as I headed to the junk yard here soon and I need one of those bumpers

Edit: NVM its off a Datsun 720

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This is a link to my thread> '84 MX63 7MGTE swap

I was just looking at your thread, killer job dude the car looks great!

Thanks man.

BTW, don't go M; go JZ, haha.

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This is a link to my thread> '84 MX63 7MGTE swap

That is what everyone is saying but its a big chunk of change and large loss of torque, I pm'd ya by the way

uhhhh what? large loss of tq? who have you been talking to that told you that?

you'd be going from a 2.8 to a 3.0 liter car, gaining reliability and fuel economy, aftermarket support, literally 10x the junkyard parts to choose from, i seriously can't think of a single con of going to jz, even money wise. like i said: gs300 front sump na motor will take an initial $3-500 bite out of your wallet and likely pay for itself within the first year. over the life of the car, it will return your investment over the 5M many times over.

not push it hard? than what's the point of throwing a turbo and money at it? just leave it alone if you want a cruiser. have you driven a 2jz na-t car? even a 1jz? there's no comparison to a turbo 5M. i daily'd a stock 7M car for better part of a year before starting my 1jz swap. even on stock turbos, stock boost, open dp it's night and day. also drove my friends stock and built mkiii turbos. the stock one blew a hg and the built one just never satisfied the way that my jz car or his mkiv did. i'd offer you a ride if you were close.

if it's just personal preference i have no issue with you going your own direction, but don't base your decision on bad information and outright lies being passed off as facts.

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Everything I have said as far as motor goes is based around me going with a 1jz swap from japan with the stock turbos, 5 speed, ect and to do that I would be lucky to get by spending $3500 to get it into my car. If I could do an na 1j for dirt cheap and assemble a turbo setup for it over the course of a few months that would be something that I would be interested in. As far as the loss of torque goes the 5m turbo would have more low end torque than a stock 1j as the 1j is only a 2.5l. But like I said I had not even considered an NA 1/2j until you mentioned it and that sounds like a good idea, I will have to look into that. Would I need to swap motor mounts? I am sure I can find a bell housing to fit the J/w58 combo but what else would I need to do? This car is my DD and I haul my kids in it so having it down for more than a long weekend would not really work

get your engine together first, drive it on the 5m until you're ready to swap.

when you go to the yard or browsing cl you're going to want to get as much of the motor as possible. engine, harness, ecu, all that stuff.

your mounts can be bought from xcessive manufacturing. the jz/w58 bell isn't as common as the M bellhousings but it exists and you can buy it separately if you can't find a transmission from a 5 speed lexus or an na mkiv supra to use. wiring should be relatively easy, and there are at least a few guys willing to help you out or wire it for you if you send it off.

the good thing about using an na engine is you will be able to run and drive while you put together a bolt-on turbo. bang for buck, you will end up with a great setup. if you were going to be able to put the time and money into a turbo 5M, you will definitely be able to handle doing this. start looking at supraforums and googling to get some detailed info when you're ready to boost.

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Awesome, that is very good info to have. I am thinking that I need a 2j just for the extra displacement with maybe a 1j head as it flows better. Thinking that combo plus a reasonably sized turbo (enough to support 350 whp) to keep the lag down and I would guess that I would be very happy. I am headed out here in a couple weeks to start looking for my front bumper and a stock LSD or a spare diff to weld up for some fun. Hopefully I will be able to get some new pics of the car this weekend and devote some time to getting some more things fixed on it. Also I can not figure out how to set the clock, lol so if anyone could help there that would be great.

Just found a Datsun 720 front bumper for 30 bucks local! Now I just have to go get it and rip the old park bench off

that the 1jz head flows better is another piece of internet hearsay that gets thrown around. both heads have been tested independently by a few different people and there's not too much of a difference that you'd notice.

the na 2j head actually flows better, so keep it. do think about finding an intake manifold for it that eliminates the crossover tube and has a front facing throttle body. they're out there, but kinda rare from what i've seen. you might be able to swing an aftermarket plenum made for a turbo and have a shop cut off the flange and weld an NA flange on. i think.

as for turbos, you can get your 350hp relatively easy out of a holset or borg warner. people are having good results with those, just make sure you get one that isn't a piece of crap or rebuild it, the kits are cheap. with a new fuel pump and appropriately sized injectors, you can run the motor off of an aristo ecu or go with some kind of aftermarket management. find a good tuner. it makes a huge difference.

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Love the MX63. Can't wait to see more progress on this one. Though I also think you should go the JZ route.

More than likely I will end up going with a NA-T 2JZ, my motor, as far as I know, has about 185,000 miles on it so it is getting up there and I would rather pull it and do the swap before this motor dies. Thinking I am going to run a T3 turbo on the 2J for more bottom end power adn with my power goals being 350RWHP a T3 will be more than enough

That isn't too bad of an idea.

Got some more info on my suspension, one of the joys of being broke is that I have plenty of time to do research to make sure that the stuff I am going to buy is gonna work right the first time around. Sounds like the front will consist of a Techno Toy Tuning weld on coilover kit (500lb) with KYB AGX shocks, T3 camber plates and T3 RCA's while the back will be a set of circle track Adco springs (400lb), circle track ride height adjusters, KYB AGX's and limiting straps so my coils don't fall out. I am still figuring out the right length for the rear springs but that is about the last piece of the puzzle there. On a less cheerful not my power steering pump is holwing like a raped werewolf from the PO running the system dry so I will be getting a new one of those as well as figuring out if and where any leaks in the system are. Other maintenance stuff that I will be doing includes the cam tower seals and a windshield replacement along with tracking down and fixing any other oil leaks so the car can get on the track this year